<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>and life goes out, like cola from a bottle by PilotStudios</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28096869">and life goes out, like cola from a bottle</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/PilotStudios/pseuds/PilotStudios'>PilotStudios</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Franky's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Month [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>One Piece</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>(and other fun times), Angst, Breaking down, Cybernetics, Fear of Death, Gen, Mugiwara no Ichimi | Straw Hat Pirates, Near Death Experiences, Whumptober 2020, contemplating death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 20:54:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,034</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28096869</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/PilotStudios/pseuds/PilotStudios</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Franky contemplates his own death as his body breaks down.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Franky's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Month [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2013526</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>and life goes out, like cola from a bottle</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>haha completely forgot to put the actual summary in. anyway. written for day 12 (broken down) of whumptober. find it on tumblr here <a href="https://flimflamfranky.tumblr.com/post/631824146150604800/day-12-broken-down">here</a>. this one of the darker ones i did, so heed the tags!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Franky could feel himself breaking down. The last remains of his cola slugged through his system, in slow, torturous drips, and he could feel his insides shutter and fail as they ran out of fuel. Not a big deal for his cybernetics parts - but for his squishy, all-too-human bits that needed those parts to stay alive?  </p><p>He was dying. Slowly. Completely aware of each moment bringing him closer and closer to a total shut, forced to contemplate his own morality until his body kicked the bucket.</p><p>It was terrifying.</p><p>And the worst part? He could do nothing <em>but</em> experience it.</p><p>His legs had given out first, sending him crashing down to the forest floor. He had then tried crawling, pulling himself over bushes and tree roots with his arms until those gave out too. And now, he was stuck here, half-paralyzed, unable to move an inch as his body drained of cola. He wasn’t even stuck on his back, where he could at least look up at the sky and watch the clouds pass by. No, he had fallen face first into the dirt. All he could watch were the ants and beetles that passed, showing off their ability to move as they crawled over his fingers.</p><p>He knew he had sunk low when he started feeling jealous of <em>bugs</em>.</p><p>He had back up systems installed, of course. When he ran out, he wasn’t <em>out</em> out. Cola would still be running through his body, and if he didn’t refuel immediately, it would get recycled and reused as much as possible.</p><p>Problem was, he had been running on fumes way before this, when he first got separated from the others and blasted into this damned forest. Had been for a while, as they got chased over hell and high water by those ant worshiping freaks. Or maybe they had <em>been</em> ants? Really big, really weird ants? He couldn’t remember.</p><p>But whatever they had been, there were a lot of them. They had been everywhere, and he had no time to refuel, forced to flee and fight on empty. He didn’t want to know how much that drained him.</p><p>He never tested his back-up systems before - never had to. Wasn’t exactly something he wanted to test. He wasn’t sure how long they would last, even without the extra stress.</p><p>With his body already shutting down, he was worried he wouldn’t last much longer.</p><p>He really hoped the others would find him soon. He couldn’t have gone that far, right? And his crew was smart, clever, when they wanted to be. They’d find him. He just hoped it was before his cola ran out, not after. He didn’t want them discovering just his body and not him. That’d suck.</p><p>At least this time, he wasn’t in pain. The sea train had nearly killed him too, and that had <em>hurt</em>, hurt like no other. Hurt so much that he still felt it sometimes, a heavy ache in nerves he no longer had. But not now, though.</p><p>He couldn’t feel anything right now.</p><p>It was probably for the best. Even if he could feel the leaves and ants tickling his skin, he wouldn’t be able to scratch it. That’d drive him crazy. And no pain was a big bonus. He could handle feeling disconnected but trapped from his own body. He really could.</p><p>Man, he hoped the others found him soon.</p><p>He had so many plans for the day, when they first landed on the island, before they were overwhelmed by those ant jerks. He was gonna show Usopp and Luffy and Chopper his latest invention, and help Nami scout for her new map, and go with Robin to collect some flowers, and try that new spice rub Sanji came up with, and show Brook that song he’d been working on, and have that swimming competition with Jinbe.</p><p>He- He needed to see Sunny to the end of her journey. He needed to see everyone accomplish their dreams. He needed to make Luffy the King of the Pirates. He couldn’t just leave this far in. He <em>couldn’t</em>.</p><p>Panic and desperation and fears began to well up again, stronger as he thought of the friends he didn’t want to miss, but his body didn’t respond. His breathing didn’t pick up, his arms didn’t shake, his eyes didn’t even tear up. He just kept still, staring forward and watching the leaves rustle in the breeze.</p><p>Oh, and there went his vision. Perfect. Just what he needed. Complete darkness to make things better.</p><p>This <em>sucked</em>.</p><p>He couldn’t even think of a harsher way to put it, he hated it so much. He’d work hard to be able to cry! Installing tear ducts, rerouting nerves, working past his issues to cry freely and openly. And now, when he needed it the most, he couldn’t fucking do it.</p><p>He really hoped the others would find him already. He didn’t want to die - not like this. He thought he go during a fight, giving his all with a don! Or maybe of old age, after he passed his skills to someone bright and young and full of potential. Hell, even by accident, an explosion by one of his own inventions or something, would be better than this!</p><p>Dying face down in the dirt, in some random forest, on some random island, just because he ran out of fuel? It was pathetic. It was terrifying.</p><p>He didn’t want to die alone.</p><p>
  <span class="small">“Franky!”</span>
</p><p>He really really didn’t want to die alone.</p><p>“Franky!!”</p><p>What was that? He thought he heard something over the rustle of the wind. It was getting hard to focus. His heart was pounding. It felt like he was floating.</p><p>“FRANKY!!!”</p><p><em>Luffy</em>.</p><p>Franky wanted to cry and jump up and scream <em>I’m here, I’m here, come find me</em>! He couldn’t but it didn’t matter. He knew they’d find him anyway.</p><p>And find him they did.</p><p>“Look, over there!”</p><p>“Is that-?”</p><p>“Franky!!”</p><p>The relief Franky felt was nearly overwhelming. Was overwhelming, because his hearing started to fade. He was fading too, his consciousness dragging down into nothingness.</p><p>But that was okay. His friends had found him. He wasn’t alone anymore.</p><p>Everything was going to be okay.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>